Jan Kopecky picked up a last-gasp Rally Islas Canarias win when rival Andreas Mikkelsen's Skoda UK Fabia developed a misfire on the very last stage.
Mikkelsen appeared to have done enough to win his event-long battle with fellow works Skoda driver Kopecky, taking a 3.6-second lead into the final stage despite his Czech sparring partner being fractionally quicker on the deciding afternoon.
But the misfire cost Mikkelsen nearly half a minute, robbing him of what would have been his first victory on asphalt, and halting his streak of Intercontinental Rally Challenge wins. Kopecky was therefore able to repeat his 2010 Canarias victory and claim a win on his first IRC appearance of 2012.
Event promoter and 1991/'94 Canarias winner Luis Monzon secured an impressive third place in his Peugeot 207, comfortably ahead of Sepp Wiegand (Skoda Deutschland).
Leading finishers:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Jan Kopecky Skoda 2h21m46.5s
2. Andreas Mikkelsen Skoda UK + 28.3s
3. Luis Monzon Canarias Peugeot + 3m13.6s
4. Sepp Wiegand Skoda Deutschland + 4m32.0s
5. Jonathan Perez AMP Classic Peugeot + 7m29.3s
6. Joan Vinyes Suzuki Iberica + 9m00.3s
7. Gorka Antxustegi Suzuki Iberica + 9m18.9s
Source: Autosport
